Events

This year I have participated in the Autism Dialogue programme developed by Jonny Drury, in Sheffield, based upon Bohm Dialogue principles that are widely used in business and academia. The inaugural conference took place on the 14th December 2018 and I was invited to speak about the impression that AD had on me. The process […]

The house we have lived in since we arrived in Derby in December 2012 has been sold and we are in the process of packing up to move on. We have been so lucky to secure a council property, just down the road from where we live at the moment. Although our current property and […]

Dementia is an area of mental health that I have not had so much awareness of, and so the chance to co-facilitate a group specifically designing for the memory problems associated with dementia was a really positive opportunity. The brief for the MinD project worked across several areas that I have professional interest and experience […]

Today I attended the first meeting with the wider NHS England Autism team, which I would describe as small but perfectly formed. I had already spoken to Sarah Jackson on Twitter, and also met Aaron Oxford after speaking at Skipton House in London but this was my chance to meet the rest of their colleagues […]

Today I was invited to speak at the the first SHADA event of 2018, which has a specific focus on the autism spectrum and sexuality intersection. This is of growing interest to me, but the original invitation was extended last summer in June. The timing was auspicious to say the least. The event was attended […]

The last few weeks have been completely crazy and I’ve barely had enough time to sleep, let alone take stock and write. I have been involved in so many things, so many amazing pieces of work that it’s a bit tricky to know where to begin, so I’m going to start with a few highlights. […]

Lovely day last week at the NHS innovation Expo, where NHS England asked me to speak about my lived experience with personal health budgets in relation to treating my sensory processing disorder. I was one of two speakers in the session that I participated in, the second being an amazing lady called Michelle who manages […]

I’ve just received a great write up on the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists event that I attended at the end of June. My comments in the group discussion were noted in it, and the discussion it prompted was captured far better than I was able to myself. “Another attendee of the conference spoke […]

The venue was the college itself in London, a building lined with rather magisterial portraits of former alumni and professors. The conference covered all aspects of sexual and reproductive health, from sex education in schools, through to family planning and contraceptives, via pregnancy, labour and birth, with some stop-offs around the menopause and also sex […]

It seems like the last month has passed by in a flash and I found myself travelling back to Loughborough to participate in the second installment of the Peer Leadership Academy co-produced by the lovely PeopleHub and NHS England. Considering how surprised I was by the first session I had less expectation and more anticipation […]